Lightning/Surge Recorders

I feel that the same surge counter should work.

Standard power monitoring devices with a record feature can be used but these are expensive. Cheaper power monitoring devices that measure voltage and duration could potentially be used but you would need to calculate and model the current based on the site wiring and conditions (and as such may be outside your desire or capability to do so).

Does your building have an existing lightning protection system you can connect to and monitor or are you trying to monitor numerous points within buildings?

Why the need anyway,this is not commonly done? Generally a study is done to assess the threat to the building and standard lightning and surge protection devices and techniques are employed to protect the building, the wiring and the connected equipment within the building.

When equipments are damaged by a surge or lightning someone should assess the cause or intensity of the wave(kA/kV)and submit a report to the building owner.If a recorder is not installed it is almost impossible to know whether the intensity of the surge was larger than the rating of the protector.In a case the consultant visited the site and reported that it was a component failure inside the surge diverter,in which case the supplier or contractor will be blamed. The engineer who recommended the rating and type of the diverter should know how much of surge current might flow in that installation in that locality. In this particular case the client said it happened in the night when the office was closed and damaged a computer,I believe.If the time of occurrence was recorded one can confirm whether it happened in the night or when other equipments were too functioning etc.

In a case the consultant visited the site and reported that it was a component failure inside the surge diverter,in which case the supplier or contractor will be blamed.

Put simply the protective devices (general Metal Oxide Varistors, spark gaps and gas discharge tubes) are there for a reason. The commonly-used Metal Oxide Varistors in particular degrade over time as they 'absorb' the voltage spikes (be it electronic noise, lightning induced overvoltage, direct lightning strike, etc) and will eventually fail. This is normal and although their characteristics change over time as they 'absorb' voltage spikes and degrade they are a good indicator as to the level of energy contained in the overvoltage event (say lightning strike).

Most (if not all) computers are fitted with Metal Oxide Varistors in their power supplies, it would be worth looking at the suspect computer's power supply also to see if it failed too (this is generally, but not always, a good indicator to help prove overvoltage event damage for assessment purposes). Generally a forensic analysis together with a modelled analysis of the buildings characteristics is enough for assessing probable causes of damage for reporting and insurance purposes (especially after the fact).

If the time of occurrence was recorded one can confirm whether it happened in the night or when other equipments were too functioning etc.

This is not as easy as it appears because lightning fault path current, induced current in nearby wiring and metalwork and indirect lightning strike induced voltages coming back along outside wiring and metalwork back into the buildings can be unpredictable and events (and true voltage and current levels) difficult to capture if the lightning/surge recorder(s) are not placed in exactly the right locations.

There are ways to do this. Most of the time it is used to record surges and sags from the utlity company. It can give you time, duration, and magnitude of any fluctuation and even show the differences in each phase. It might be a little more tricky for internal wiring, but you should be able to control fluctuations that are the result of internal operations. Check out www.igrid.com and it may give you some better insight.

Thanks.The link shows voltage values less than 1 p.u.Like to see a reading in kV